Reasons that I'm completely uninspired right now:
1.  It's January.  Christmas has passed - which at the very least gives us something to anticipate - leaving us with bare trees, cold temperatures and long, long periods of dark.
2.  The week started with a gr. 5 student barfing on the floor in front of the bathroom that he didn't make it to in time.  Yup.  Monday morning - first thing.  (poor kid - it wasn't his fault, I know).
3.  Very little is growing right now which makes fresh food a chore.  We are relying a lot on our canned food, frozen food and root vegetables... and imported oranges.
4.  Stuffed sinuses are making for difficult sleeping and lots of headaches.
5.  My BFF is having a super-busy month which means it's hard for us to get together and I'm missing her... I'm looking forward to February already.
6.  My Mom-in-law has gone back to Trinidad (like any sane person would do during the winter months) so we've lost our date night for a couple of months.

Ack... I could go on but I'm sounding whiny and bitchy... and it's starting to bug me.  You get me though, right?  It's a hard month, this January thing.  I know that those of us in colder climates all struggle with it.  You work hard to keep treading water and just when you think that you're falling in and you're going to lose it, then it starts to get warmer and brighter and hope rises from the ashes of bleak.  So, we're in the middle of it right now.


I knew that I needed cake this week.  Big time.  I spend my Sunday afternoon making bread and cake instead of making food for us to eat... like for a proper meal.  It sounds weird to me right now but at the time it made total sense and I'm still glad that I did it.
Cake makes January feel a little more comfortable, more liveable.  Cake gives me sugar which somehow makes me feel even better in the middle of a dark, cold day.  In short, cake is amazing.  This cake has helped me through a long, dark, cold, long, week.  Taking a little of this to work with me warms my heart.  I remember having marble cake from the supermarket as a kid.  This cake is nothing like that.  It's actually good for starters and tastes like cake should.  It's just the right amount of dense and light.  The chocolate is just enough and the better quality chocolate you use the better it will get.  It makes a lot of cake so be prepared to eat a lot of it, freeze it or share it 'cause you want to use it up in about 3 days or so (even though I'm on day four and it's still not total crap).


Sure... I'll feel inspired soon.  My foot is feeling much better (still not perfect but hey I'm not complaining) so I'm running again 2 or 3 times a week and up to about 8 k - I even added in a couple of hills today.  That's something to begin to feel inspired about.  In a couple (or 3 weeks) the days will begin to feel a bit longer and I know that will make a difference.  For now, I'm just going to wallow in my longing for hibernation and let myself eat cake.


Marble Cake adapted from 'Baked: New Frontiers in Baking'
makes one VERY large bundt cake

6 oz dark chocolate (60 - 72% cocoa solids)
1 tsp dark cocoa powder

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp bk powder
1 1/2 tsp bk soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
2 1/4 cups sugar
4 lg eggs (at room temperature)
16 oz sour cream (almost a whole 500g package)
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Grease and flour a bundt or tube pan (I only have a tube pan so that's what I used)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a double boiler melt the chocolate and the cocoa powder together.  Set aside.
Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a bowl.  Mix and set aside.
Cream and fluff the butter using a whisk or an electric mixer.  Add in the sugar and mix until incorporated and fluffy.  Add in the eggs one at a time mixing just until incorporated.
Add in the sour cream and vanilla and mix just until incorporated.
Pour 1/3 of the batter into the melted chocolate and mix until it's a uniform colour.
Pour 1/2 of the vanilla batter into the bottom of the bundt pan.  Smooth out slightly.
Dollop the chocolate batter on top of that and smooth out just a little.
Pour the remaining vanilla batter on top of the chocolate.  Smooth out a little and then with a knife or a chop stick run it through the batter, circling a couple of times.
Bake for about 45 - 50 minutes checking after about 40 minutes though (the recipe called for 30 minutes but my cake was still watery at that point).
Check with a cake tester making sure it comes out clean.
Cool for a few minutes in the pan before removing to a cooling rack.
Will keep for 3 - 4 days in an airtight container.